SUMMARY: Today we're taking a close look at three of the most recent water cooling kits released from Corsair, Thermaltake and Gigabyte. We put them all inside the ring to find out which offers the best overall features and cooling performance. If you're on the market for a new CPU cooling solution which offers better performance than air coolers to aid in higher overclocking and quieter operation at the same time, read on and find out which one is the best buy!
It once was the hobby of enthusiasts with home made water blocks drilled out, radiators made from old Automatic Transmission coolers and aquarium pumps, today it is one of the most capitalised markets available, I am talking about the art of water cooling a PC.
Air cooling PC components has been the norm with processors both modern and past - while air cooling serves its purpose for stock speeds, when the realm of overclocking comes into it, air simply isn’t enough. Water has the ability to remove 70% more heat from components as opposed to air and this is the reason that water cooling is used in machinery like car engines, simply because its ability to remove heat from a source is much greater. In fact, to cool a engine properly on air alone, the heat fins have to be massive – for instance, have a good look at a Porches 911 3.5L engine compared to something that uses water, you will notice the cooling setup is much smaller and will work a lot better especially under load.
The same can be said for water cooling a CPU, the size of the setup can be extremely small yet the transfer rate is that much more efficient, as water can hold more then 50% more heat and transfer it to a cooling source (radiator/heat exchanger) more efficiently.
Today we are taking a look at three kits that are currently on the market, and which one is the best setup for your rig. Here with us we have the Corsair Cool, Thermaltake Bigwater and Gigabyte 3D Galaxy water cooling kits but which one deserves the crown? Come with us and take a look.
